Ontario PILOTS KNIFE, VIETNAM VINTAGE??

[deltablade]

Recently, my brother-in-law gave me this Ontario fighting knife to keep in my collection. He was in Laos during the war, maintaining aircraft, 1966-1969 and said that this knife was given to him by a pilot friend who didnt return from his mission, and that these were govt issued and popular with the aircrews. He recently replaced the sheath, as the original deteriorated. The knife blade is marked Ontario US. Is it possible that this is a Vietnam era Ontario? Incidentally, it looks just like the one carried by James Garner in the WWII movie Up Periscope; black handle, black blade, black sheath.

 

[GIRLYmann]

from what i understand, ontario knives won the government tender to produce
the type of knife as in your picture
sometime in the 1980's...
see post #239
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/ask-toooj.1285004/page-12
yes, there were vietnam war era knives of
this pattern, but imho not very likely the ontario marked blades.
fyi, the "U.S.N. Mark 2 / U.S.M.C. 1219C2 Fighting Utility" government knife
contractors were...
Camillus Cutlery Co.
Conetta
M.S.I.
Ontario Knife Co.
PAL Blade Co.
Robeson Shuredge
Union Cutlery Co.
Utica Cutlery
http://www.usmilitaryknives.com/knife_list.htm

 

[BladeScout]

OP, at the behest of the government, Marbles designed an early knife design meant to be issued to air crews.

History:
Marble produced several thousand knives for field testing and delivered them to the U.S. Air Force between 1957-1959. After the completion of testing and bidding competition between Marble, Camillus Cutlery, and the Ontario Knife Company (OKC), Camillus was awarded the contract to supply the new Jet Pilot Survival Knife (JPSK) to the Department of Defense instead of Marble. Camillus produced the knife with a 6-inch blade from 1959-1961. In 1961, updates to the military specifications called for a 5-inch blade. Camillus produced the Jet Pilot Survival Knife with a 5-inch blade from 1961-2006. It appears that in 2006, Ontario Knife Company became the current vendor to the DoD of the Jet Pilot Survival Knife under the National Stock Number (NSN): 7340-00-098-4327. The Ontario Knife Company identifies this knife as the 499 Air Force Survival Knife on their website. Additionally, OKC is the only company selling this knife commercially.

Source and pics of the Air For Force Knife, the ASEK, the SP2 etc:
https://majorhykr.com/2018/06/21/a-short-history-of-the-air-force-survival-knife/

I suspect someone along the way got the knives wrong. What you have is an Ontario USN MK2. It might have been used by some pilot (who is to say) but it wasnt designed to be issued to air crews and certainly wasnt issued/made during the Vietnam conflict.

 

[BladeScout]

Some of mine. Vintage Camillus, vintage Ka-Bar, modern Ontario:

 

[Patrick Bowie]

I have pictures of my Vietnam War Era USAF Pilot's Survival Knife Ontario 1-1973 Marked with sheath and sharpening stone for the Vietnam issued Jet Pilots. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3298057380268126&set=pcb.3298061626934368&type=3&theater I also have a picture of a Vietnam War US M4 Bayonet M8A1 PWH for M1 Carbine Knife to show the difference from my knife. This has a round hole for mounting it to the rifle.

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Just came across this thread - a production dating correction - Ontario became the only "official" government contractor for the JPSK when Camillus's contract was not renewed in 1984.

All JPSKs produced by Camillus after 1984 were for civilian sales only. These could have been through the AAFES PX system, but not as a true "military" contract. These are identifiable as they have no date stamp on a pommel facet, but have the "new" final Camillus 3 line stamp.